Scarborough Fair
by Reiko Itoshii
Summary: After three weeks in Toby Ziegler's care, Rachel is more confident, more comfortable, and ready to go home. But what home does she have to go to? Rachelverse #2. CHAPTER TWO: Toby doesn't understand teenage girls. Donna and CJ do.
1. Chapter One

"Donna," Josh called from outside, "Where'd I leave my jacket?"  
  
Looking up from her desk, Donna shrugged. "I don't know. It's not on the chair?"  
  
"It's not on the chair." Exasperated, Josh turned to his secretary, throwing up his hands. "Aren't you supposed to keep track of things?"  
  
"Do you ever find yourself lacking, Joshua?"  
  
"All the time. Will you please help me find my jacket?"  
  
With a deep sigh, Donna craned her neck over a stack of paperwork, peering down towards the shelves. "Rachel, where's Josh's jacket?"   
  
Rachel gestured vaguely with one hand, not turning around. "It's on the floor behind the desk. Over there. See?"  
  
"Oh." Stepping over a few oddly placed boxes, Josh crouched down to the floor and retrieved the misplaced garment. "Ah. Yes. Well." Suddenly, he spun around, and looked at Rachel, forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Do I know you?"  
  
Again, the girl didn't look up. "Nope."   
  
"Ah. Ok. I have a meeting?" Josh looked at Donna for confirmation.  
  
"Yes," Donna agreed.  
  
"Ok. I'm off. Wait, where'd I put my-?"   
  
"GO!" Getting halfway out of her chair, Donna started towards him. Blinking, Josh departed quickly. "Honestly," murmured Donna, shaking her head in frustration. "Well. That went well, actually. We showed him who's boss. Rachel?"  
  
"Mmmm." Finally rising, Rachel smiled at Donna. "I see what you mean, now. He needs all the help he can get, doesn't he?" Then she chuckled. "Seems kinda odd that they let someone like him work in the White House."   
  
"Oh, he's good at his job," Donna assured her quickly. "He's just...absent minded."  
  
"Very." At Donna's troubled look, however, Rachel relented. "I'm sure he's good at something," she conceded, raising eyes to the sky. "He just needs a little push, right?"  
  
"Right." Donna looked very relieved. "Anyway, he didn't seem to have any problem with you helping out here."  
  
"Didn't seem to?" Rachel was amused again. "He barely noticed my existence! Of course, that could be a good thing, but...maybe when he pulls it together, he'll realize that I'm not exactly an employee." She paused. "He does occasionally pull it together, right?"  
  
"Oh, yes, of course," Donna assured her, very quickly. "Occasionally. You know. But anyway," she went on, before Rachel could voice doubts, "He probably won't object. Like you said, he needs all the help he can get. You're...uh, mature for you age, so maybe he won't notice."  
  
Rachel snorted. "Seems unlikely, doesn't it?" When Donna nodded glumly, Rachel sighed. "It doesn't matter, though. I'm only going to be here for another week, and then I'm off again."  
  
Donna stopped pushing papers around for a minute, and slowly turned to look at Rachel. "...What?" She asked, startled.   
  
Rachel blinked. "Didn't you know? I did tell you. I'm only here for a month, and then...I'm going to live somewhere else." In truth, Rachel thought, unhappily, she didn't know where else she was going to live. She didn't really have anywhere else to live. But the Grump-the name she'd given to Toby Ziegler, her present caretaker-didn't seem to like her very much at all. He never really talked to her, beyond 'how was your day' and 'be back later.' And occasionally 'go to bed, it's late.' So she had to go somewhere else.   
  
Rachel didn't voice any of this to Donna, however. Much as she liked Donna, the woman seemed...well, overly talkative. Gossipy. And the last thing Rachel wanted was for Donna to go attacking Toby about not being a good enough father-figure or whatever. He wasn't her father, anyway. That brought a quick pang, but Rachel had learned to suppress those. Her father was happy, now, and she would cope. She would go soon, wherever she had to, and both she and Toby would probably be the best for it.   
  
"Oh," Donna murmured. "I forgot. Has it really been three weeks?"  
  
"Yup!" Rachel poked at the buttons on her watch as she spoke, and then looked up again, satisfied. "Actually, there's eight days left before I go, but that's pretty close to a week."  
  
"Pretty close," Donna concurred quietly. "Well," and she recovered herself, smiling slightly, "It'll be a shame to be deprived of my helper."  
  
"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage," Rachel replied cheerfully, glancing at her watch again. "Actually, it's time for me to go, I think. Thanks!" Giving a little wave, she started out the door of Josh Lyman's office, towards Toby's, where Mr. Ziegler might or might not have been, she didn't know. Even as she did so, however, Donna called after her.  
  
"Rachel! Hey, do you think...do you want to come shopping with me tomorrow? Josh gave me a bit of time off in the evening, so that I could get something for the Seiman Dinner next week. CJ Cregg is coming too...do you think Toby would let you go?"   
  
Rachel grinned wryly. "Anything to get me out of his way. You sure you want me tagging along?"   
  
"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't," Donna assured her.   
  
"Ok, then!" Rachel waved again as she departed, tossing back over her shoulder, "I'll see you tomorrow! Bye, Donna!"   
  
***********  
  
Toby Ziegler was draped across his desk, trying to keep his eyes open, when Rachel returned to the office, whistling to herself.   
  
"Stop that," he ordered by way of greeting, and she obediently did so, with a soft sigh.   
  
"Hi," she said, sitting down in her usual chair, and drumming her fingers on her knees as she watched him. "Are...you done yet?" She asked, hesitantly.  
  
Toby shook his head. "No...I won't be done for a while." Then he looked up. "I'm going to have to ask you to go somewhere else, for now...we're having a meeting in here." Sorry, thought Toby. He was usually telling her to stay in the office, he realized. Ironic.   
  
"Oh." Rachel shrugged. "Ok...I'll...just go back to Josh's office, then." She started out of the chair, but Toby stopped her, reaching a hand out to grab her arm.  
  
"Hey, could you just...I don't know, find something to do? Josh needs to get some work done, too."  
  
Toby watched how that registered on Rachel's face, and saw that she was mildly hurt by that statement. Damn, he thought. He hadn't meant it that way. It was just...didn't she realize that this wasn't a playground? This was the White House, for god's sake. Then again, he had dragged her here. She hadn't chosen to be with him.  
  
"Sorry," He muttered, but she was already wandering down the hall by the time he looked up to reason with her. Shaking his head, Toby picked the pen back up off his desk. One more week, he thought. Then, maybe, she'll be happier.   
  
Somehow, though, that thought didn't make him feel any better. 


	2. Chapter Two

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! I know, all summer there have been no updates. Frustrating, but the wait has ended! Yaaaay!)  
  
"Rachel?"  
  
"Yes, Mr. Ziegler?"  
  
"What is that noise?" Toby's voice echoed up from the bottom of the stairwell, as Rachel pushed the pause button on her CD player.   
  
"It's Dashboard Confessional," she replied, not moving from where she lay, lounging on the bed, with the door hanging open.  
  
"Yes, great, wonderful. It's loud." He was irritated, she noticed. Well, that wasn't awfully unusual.   
  
"Yes." Pressing the play button again, she settled back into her pillows, and was about to re-open the book she was holding, when Toby interrupted her again.  
  
"Rachel?  
  
"Yes, Mr. Ziegler?"  
  
"Turn it down." His voice was dry, tired. With a little sigh, she reached over, and, with what she deemed was entirely too much effort for her at this moment, turned the volume dial several notches lower. "Thank you," Toby said, after a few moments. Rachel heard his footsteps retreating away across the wood paneling.  
  
"No problem," she muttered under her breath, turning back to her diary. Fumbling around in the bed covers for the pen, she pulled off the cap with her teeth, and stared at the half-filled page with a frustrated frown on her face.  
  
"Now you've distracted me," she said to Toby, obviously too far away to hear her. Closing the book with a snap, she tossed it, along with the pen, off the end of the bed, and fell backwards with a dramatic plop, leaning into her pillows and rolling her eyes at no one.  
  
Eventually, she shifted over on to her side, and turned to look at the picture resting on her dresser. She and her mother and father were there, along with, oddly enough, Toby Ziegler. Everyone in the photograph was smiling except for him, of course. In fact, she couldn't recall every seeing a picture of him, anywhere, where he had been smiling. "Grump," she said absently. "Only a little longer..."  
  
***********  
  
"We're going!" Toby called up to Rachel's room, before grabbing his coat and bag and heading towards the garage door. A few minutes later, the girl came running down the stairs, shoes and socks in hand. "Let's go," he said simply, and heard her let out a patient breath, before following him out towards the car.  
  
"Mr. Ziegler?" She asked, as he shut the car door, and began to pull out of the garage. "Can I go shopping today?"  
  
Shopping? Shopping. Shopping was something teenagers liked, wasn't it? He wasn't big on it himself, but he knew all the women liked it. His wife had liked it. CJ liked it. But...he wasn't really prepared for shopping with a girl. He chewed his lip anxiously. He'd hoped he'd be able to last one more week, but...  
  
"Sorry," he said after a moment. "I'm busy."  
  
"No," Rachel said, "I mean, Donna was going to take me. Today. You won't have left by then, anyway. And Ms. Cregg's going, too."  
  
Oh. Well. That was a different story, then. Still... "Aren't Donna and CJ working today?" he asked.   
  
"They've got some time off. And they asked me," She added quickly, "So it's not like I'm in the way or anything. Really. I won't get into any trouble or anything."  
  
"How are you going to get home?" Toby was still skeptical. He had the sneaking suspicion that CJ had proposed this whole thing because she felt sorry for him, and he wasn't fond of that idea.   
  
"You'll probably still be at the office when we're done," Rachel said wryly. "For a change."  
  
Toby turned around his seat to regard the girl, as she blushed and looked at her lap. "Sorry," she muttered.   
  
"It's fine," Toby said, shaking his head, and turning back to the wheel. "Go ahead. But be back by 10:00."   
  
There was a silence, and then, mostly to herself, he heard Rachel say, "You sound like my father."   
  
Thanks, he wanted to say, but didn't.   
  
************  
  
Donna and Rachel met CJ at 5:30 in the parking lot. "Ready?" CJ asked, smiling down at Rachel.  
  
"Yup!" She said, swing her denim purse back and forth on her arm.  
  
"Did Toby give you any money?" Donna frowned as Rachel snorted derisively, and shook her head.  
  
"Not likely," Rachel replied. "Being generous isn't really one of Mr. Ziegler's big worries in life. He's rather stingy with his funds." Rachel glanced quickly up at CJ to see her reaction, suddenly worried that she might have offended the woman. Donna she could talk and joke with, but this older, taller, higher ranking woman was a different story.  
  
"Did you ask him?" Asked CJ, reasonably.  
  
"Well, no," Rachel admitted. "But you know he wouldn't have. And I didn't want to make him angry."  
  
"You should give Toby more credit," Donna said with a frown. "He's really a very good person."  
  
"Oh, I'm sure he's great at what he does and all," Rachel agreed glibly. "He's suddenly been saddled with a random girl, who doesn't fit with his schedule, and who's completely unwelcome in his life. I'm not blaming him or anything."  
  
"That's not what I was getting at," Donna protested, but Rachel shot her a reassuring smile.   
  
"Don't worry about it," She said, softening a bit. "It's all fine. I'm sure he's a good guy." Then, meekly, looking up at CJ, "Can we go? I've only got until 10:00."   
  
They piled into the car, with Rachel again in the backseat, and pulled out of the parking lot, heading on to the street.  
  
"What radio stations do you listen to?" CJ asked as she rounded a corner.  
  
"Mostly DC 101, Z 104, stuff like that," Rachel answered with a shrug. "It's all good, though. As long as it's not country."  
  
"Country's not so bad," murmured Donna defensively. "Country can be very sweet."  
  
"Or, country can be very sweet," Rachel said, throwing up her hands in defeat. "Whatever works!"  
  
CJ switched on the radio, flipping a few times before settling on a song. I just can't wait till my ten year reunion/I wanna bust out the double doors, the voice sang. Rachel clapped her hands, and sat up straighter in her seat.   
  
"John Meyer!" She crowed, grinning. "I love John Meyer! Oh god, he's really hot, too."  
  
Donna looked at her. "How old are you, again?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Fourteen," Rachel replied, looking puzzled. "Why?"  
  
"Was I thinking about how 'hot' people were, at fourteen?" Donna asked, mostly to herself.   
  
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Oh, please," she muttered, with a little laugh. 


End file.
